The Big Comfy Couch (Jomaribryan's version)
The Big Comfy Couch is a Canadian children's comedy television series about Loonette the Clown and her doll Molly, who solve everyday problems on their Big Comfy Couch. It aired from March 2, 1991 until February 26, 2007. It was produced by Cheryl Wagnerand Robert Mills, directed by Wayne Moss, Robert Mills and Steve Wright. It premiered on March 2, 1991 in Canada and in January 9, 1999 in the USA on public television stations across the country. Synopsis Each episode contains several common elements that take place throughout the episode. Early in each show, Loonette performs an exercise routine she calls the Clock Rug Stretch, and toward the end, she performs a high-speed clean-up routine called the Ten-Second Tidy. Other oft-repeated elements include reading a story to Molly, who sometimes either chooses a story to hear, gives Loonette a book and oversized glasses, or turning on the lights for Loonette; encounters with the dust bunnies who live under the couch; visits to various places in Clowntown, songs that emphasize the episode's lessons or themes, and a trip to Granny Garbanzo's garden and house. Here she encounters Snicklefritz, Granny's cat; Major Bedhead, the local mail-delivery clown, who travels on a unicycle; and of course, Granny herself. The conversation with Granny is often used as the episode's teachable moment, where Granny offers Loonette advice or lessons, often with the help of Major Bedhead, who delivers gifts and messages from Auntie Macassar or Uncle Chester. All episodes end with Loonette and Molly having a nap and sometimes reminding the viewers to remember the rules on today's episode. In season 7, Loonette and Molly play the Dream Game and Molly gives out the letter that the dream starts with and provide what they will be dreaming about. In season 6, Loonette and Molly play the Doll School Game where Molly learns the alphabet as well as numbers. A similar element used in seasons 1–3 (And in one episode of Season 5) is the Alphabet Game, where a certain letter is shown on a giant alphabet block and Loonette uses certain words beginning with that letter and also makes the letter's shape with her body to get the viewers to guess the letter. Along with the lessons and problem solving sequences, the show also emphasized imaginative play. These episodes often take place in the context of a visit to Clowntown, with sites such as Granny Garbanzo's Cabbage Club Cooking School, and Major Bedhead's Clown Chi Dojo and Dancing School. Additionally, Loonette is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs Miss Loonette's Dance Academy. From Seasons 1-6, Loonette was too young to visit Clowntown alone, but in Season 7, she makes frequent trips to Clowntown, and volunteers at the Clowndergarten, where she teaches young clowns games, songs and stories. This imaginative play was also demonstrated through dress-up games and through Loonette's dollhouse, in which she imagined the adventures of The Foley Family. Shown first as a doll-sized family, in Loonette's imagination they would become a family of regular-sized clowns, whose actions were shown in high speed and with a musical background in the style of old silent movies. The Foleys did not speak. Early in the first season, Molly had discovered the Dust Bunnies. However, Loonette didn't believe that there were dust bunnies under the couch. The two lounge around the couch all day, with the exception of the Clock Rug Stretch and daily adventure, sometimes involving Granny or Major Bedhead, a postal service employee who also plays bit parts. Each day includes a few songs and a story (which, when told by Loonette, involves her wearing huge yellow glasses and holding a blue storybook); and is concluded with the Ten-Second Tidy and a nice nap. Production The show was originally produced by Radical Sheep Productions with Owl Television/Communications, then Canadian children's television network YTV and WITF-TV Harrisburg, with a run of 65 episodes. In 2002, 13 new episodes were produced with Benny Smart, an American children's television production company, Tadpole TV and Treehouse TV, a companion channel of YTV, and Nashville Public Television. From 1992 to 1996 and 2002, the show was filmed at Wallace Avenue Studios in Toronto, and in 2006, it has been filmed at Toronto's Studio City. Radical Sheep Productions and Amity Entertainment, in association with Treehouse TV and Nashville Public Television, produced 22 additional episodes, which debuted on American Public Television in 2006. Since 2015, Makeful (AKA Be Makeful) produced the show. Characters Loonette Loonette is the lead character, portrayed by Alyson Court from 1992–2004 and Ramona Gilmour-Darling in 2006-2007. She is a young clown living with her doll, Molly, on the eponymous Big Comfy Couch, an over-sized green couch with flower patterns on it. She wears a pink dress with purple sleeves and a white shirt with yellow clown suns and moons. She also wears a purple hat on her head and wears black and white socks with black shoes on her feet. She frequently reads stories to Molly, always performs a Clock Rug Stretch, and likes to visit Granny Garbanzo. Auntie Macassar or Uncle Chester frequently send Loonette postcards which Major Bedhead delivers on his unicycle. Her Parents are never seen or mentioned. Loonette is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs Miss Loonette's Dance Academy. Another gift she possesses is the unusual ability to clean just about any mess up in ten seconds, which she calls the Ten Second Tidy. She frequently used the word "pickle juice" when she is frustrated about situations in a few episodes. Originally, Loonette was too bossy even when Molly didn't like it, and she was too young to visit Clowntown, but starting from 2006, Loonette makes frequent trips to Clowntown to visit Granny's Cabbage Club Cooking School and Major Bedhead's Clown Chi Dojo and Dancing School. The trips to the first location help teach Loonette how to cook. The trips to this second location indicates that she practices martial arts. Loonette also takes Molly to Clowndergarten and helps out with the other young clowns. This third location is similar to kindergarten. Molly Molly is Loonette's doll. Loonette found her in a barrel with a sign marked "Free to a good home", and adopted her. She is puppetered by Bob Stutt. Molly wears a blue dress. She believes that dust bunnies really exist, despite Loonette's disbelief. Her favorite food is doughnuts. She only speaks by cartoon bubbles, and usually answers Loonette's yes–no questions by either nodding or shaking her head. Additonal characters * Fuzzy and Wuzzy (puppeteered by Bob Stutt and Robert Mills): they are the Twins of Dust bunnies who live under the Big Comfy Couch. Only Molly knows of their existence, and she always does her best to protect them so she can play with them. * The Foley Family (Fred Stinson (Andy), Jani Lauzon (Jim), Jackie Harris (Eileen) (seasons 1-2) and Suzanne Merriam (Eileen) (Season 3-5)): A very silly family who live inside of Loonette's dollhouse. They appeared from Seasons 1-5. * Granny Garbanzo (Grindl Kuchirka) Loonette's next-door neighbor who loves her very much, even Molly too. She comes from the old country and has a Slavic accent. Granny also likes growing in her garden and she lives inside a wagon with Snicklefritz, her cat. Her name is derived from the garbanzo bean. * Snicklefritz (puppeteered by Bob Stutt): Granny's cat, who was introduced in Season 2. Likes to play pranks on the others and sometimes tries to get out of getting flea-baths. The name Snicklefritz ''comes from slang in German culture. * '''Major Bedhead' (Fred Stinson): The local clown courier who makes deliveries to Loonette from her Auntie Macassar or Uncle Chester. Can be quite goofy at times and a bit clumsy. He also hates lying and being dishonest, seen in the episode "Pants on Fire". * Auntie Macassar (Taborah Johnson): Loonette's travelling aunt who likes to make an entrance whenever she visits. She appears in Seasons 1-5. Her name is a pun on antimacassar. * Wobbly (Gary Farmer): A close friend who lives in Clowntown. Appears in 2 episodes in season 2. * Uncle Chester (Edward Knuckles): Loonette's travelling uncle who appears in Seasons 6-7. Reruns and other original channels In the United States, the series was syndicated by American Public Television to public television stations in that country, most of which were affiliated with PBS, starting in February 1995 and ending in February 2007, with reruns airing until 2009. In Canada, it was shown on Treehouse TVuntil it stopped broadcasting on February 27, 2011. Since 2015, it was brodcast in Canada instead on Makeful. Merchandise Additional items for kids, like coloring pages, could be found on the Big Comfy Couch website. Other merchandise included: VHStapes, DVDs, coloring books, stuffed plush dolls and furniture, puzzles, and life size dolls. Epsiodes See the episodes '' Media Time-Life Video was the main distributor for releasing the Big Comfy Couch series under Time-Life Video's children's label Time-Life Kids. VHS releases are also released on May 10, 2005 by Goldhil Video. DVD releases The Big Comfy Couch has 5 DVDs featuring the new season starring Ramona Gilmour-Darling. The DVDs and VHS tapes that feature Alyson Court are now out of print, but can be found on certain websites such as Amazon. On July 30, 2013, TGG Direct released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.Seasons 3-7 were released on August 6, 2013. Album releases Several albums of the original songs written by JP Houston and performed by the cast were released on August 9, 2005 by Time-Life, as well as Naxos Music. App releases In 2015, Radical Sheep, in association with Sticky Brain Studios, released some apps based on the series. * '''Just Ask Molly '- Released April 1, 2015, this app allows the player can ask Molly any question, and she can communicate to the player via her thought bubbles. * 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Fun '- This app, which was released April 1, 2015, features the dust bunnies Fuzzy and Wuzzy playing hide and seek, and the player has to help them find each other by navigating through a path. * 'Clock Rug Time '- Released May 18, 2015, this app features Loonette and her clock rug stretch routine. Loonette can set the time for the player in both analog and digital. This app can also be used as an alarm clock. It even displays weather and temperature based on location. Another app was released on May 17, 2016 called "Molly's Big Day". This app focuses on Molly and her big first day in Clowndergarten. There are also activities for the players to do as well. This Hour Has 22 Minutes On the October 18, 2016 episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, in a segment discussing the 2016 clown sightings, Loonette made an appearance as the show's "clown correspondent". This was the character's first television appearances since the show's finale in 2006 and the first time Alyson Court had portrayed Loonette on TV since her departure in 2002 when she was pregnant with her son, Blaede Court-Suzuki. Tours The Big Comfy Couch has had a few live shows at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton, Alberta and sometimes in Calgary and rarely in Regina, Saskatchewan. Loonette and Molly Live Theatrical Tour In 2007, a live theatrical production entitled ''Molly's Fool Moon Festival ''toured in Canada. The show included Loonette, Molly, Granny Garbanzo and Major Bedhead. The production was produced by Koba Entertainment, and presented by Paquin Entertainment Group. Videos Intro Category:Kids live-action television series Category:Kids live-action Category:Kids television series Category:Kids series Category:PBS Shows